Homeownership has become a crucial element in constructing and confirming social position in
western societies. Housing can be an effective social mobility strategy. In the societies of
developing countries, however, the potentially positive effects of homeownership might be
hindered by financial conditions and quality of housing to which large population sectors can
have access. Taking into account the main implications of housing access for social welfare and
the unwanted effects produced by national housing policy in Mexico, due to the distortions of
the housing and land markets, is necessary to assess if such a policy has produced the desired
positive effects in terms of social mobility and if those are being perceived so by the beneficiary
population. Thus, the objective of this study is to assess the perception of social mobility derived
from the access to social housing in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua from 2002 to 2010. For this
purpose, we derive and represent spatially three indices of households social mobility
perception related to dwelling quality, complex location and urban environment, and housing
ownership advantages of their current housing in comparison with their previous or parents´
homes. In general, we found that households have a perception of social descent derived from
the quality of their new dwelling units; an even more pronounced perception of social descent
with respect to the complex location and urban environment conditions; and a regular
perception of social ascent with regards to the housing ownership advantages. These results
indicate that the supposedly positive social effects of the national housing policy in Ciudad
Juárez have not been fully deployed or at least perceived by the intended beneficiaries. This
requires a review of the basic definitions of the policy and to emphasize the social character of
housing provision in order to promote the conditions for ascending social mobility